Arrowhead Pride
Let’s take a second, breathe — and realize the ‘Greatest of All Time’ debate is far from over.
Since the Kansas City Chiefs’ 40-22 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, the broader football discourse around Patrick Mahomes has changed dramatically.
Diehard fans in New England (and Philadelphia) treated Sunday night like a point-made celebration of sorts, declaring the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) debate between Mahomes and Tom Brady — the consensus G.O.A.T. — officially settled.
Before I dive into all the reasons why it is certainly not, let’s talk about what’s real.
As it stands today, former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is still the greatest player of all time. Patriots fans are correct.
Let’s begin with the obvious: Brady owns seven Super Bowl rings — and in doing so near the end of his career with the Buccaneers, he is the only person on Earth who can claim he has more titles than any NFL franchise. That is mind-boggling, a point that cannot be ignored.
With the seven Super Bowl titles, Brady notched five championship game MVPs. He won three AP NFL MVP awards, was named an All-Pro six times and to the Pro Bowl 15 times.
Early during the 2024 season, current Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield remarked that the environment in Tampa Bay under Brady was “stressful.” Brady addressed that comment on one of his early-season FOX broadcasts — a matchup between the Buccaneers and Eagles.
“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” said Brady. “There was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare. If I wanted to have fun, I was gonna go to Disneyland with my kids... There’s a way to approach this game... There’s high expectations for us. We have to make sure we go out there and deliver.”
Brady knew how to lead, and he knew how to win — and he did so often.
Those who are on the Brady side of the G.O.A.T. debate will often highlight the two postseason matchups between Brady and Mahomes: first, a 37-31 overtime loss for the Chiefs in the 2018 AFC Championship and then the 31-9 drubbing of the Chiefs by the Bucs in Super Bowl LV.
Quick rebuttals include Dee Ford’s alignment and an injured, untenable offensive line, but the result stands true: Brady is 2-0 and Mahomes is 0-2 in head-to-head matchups, forever, as the 47-year-old is now retired and seemingly enjoying his life as a broadcaster-owner hybrid.
Those head-to-head results can’t change, but Sunday’s Super Bowl offered Mahomes a trump card. By winning three championships in a row, he would have accomplished something Brady never could.
In a loss in which Mahomes didn’t play well, that’s off the table for the...
